How to create multilingual websites with WordPress

Free and premium WordPress plugins for multilingual websites

Offering your WordPress website in multiple languages can be a daunting prospect to WordPress administrators. WordPress doesn’t support multilingual features out-of-the-box, but in case you are using translation-ready WordPress themes, you can make use of additional tools in the form of WordPress plugins. There are lots of multilingual WordPress plugins you can take advantage of.

Multilingual WordPress plugins

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There are literally hundreds of multilingual WordPress plugins you could choose from. They are available to you for free via the WordPress Plugin Directory; and you can also browse and search for plugins via your Plugins admin menu through your WordPress dashboard. Let’s take a look at the plugins available that you need to get started and make your WordPress website multilingual.

TranslatePress (Free & Premium)

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TranslatePress is a new plugin for multilingual sites which offers a better way to translate your WordPress site directly from the front-end using a friendly user interface. You can not only translate your content on posts and pages, but this plugin can also translate the output from shortcodes, forms and page builders. This includes the output of popular plugins like WooCommerce. Your content can be either translated manually or automatically via Google Translate.

There is a live preview available so that you can see your translations while you’re editing them. This plugin also comes with language switchers which you can place anywhere on your site, either by using shortcodes or as a menu item. With the TranslatePress plugin you can also translate your WordPress themes and plugins as it comes with the ability to translate dynamic strings (gettext).

In case the free version of the TranslatePress plugin isn’t sufficient for your needs, then there are also paid upgrades available. The premium version of TranslatePress allows you to add an unlimited number of translation languages as well as translate meta information (like page title, description, URL slug, social graph tags & more) using the SEO pack addon.

Polylang (Free & Premium)

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The Polylang plugin allows you to easily begin offering translations to your website visitors. Using the familiar WordPress dashboard, you’re able to translate all of your posts, pages, categories, and tags with ease. This WordPress multilingual plugin also provides you with a fully customizable language selection widget that you can drop into one of your WordPress theme’s sidebars.

Trusted by over 300,000 active WordPress installations to this date, the Polylang WordPress plugin is a worthy contender in the field of offering multilingual functionality to your WordPress website. An optional upgrade to PolyLang Pro is also available for a fee of around $112, offering a few additional translation features along with a premium support service.

Bogo (Free)

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Bogo is a no-nonsense multilingual WordPress plugin. It provides the ability to offer your WordPress website in multiple languages of your choosing. You can very quickly begin translating your website content on a per-post basis using the familiar WordPress user interface.

The plugin itself is lightweight and doesn’t interfere with your existing WordPress database tables. This is tremendously important should you ever need to uninstall this plugin. Bogo also comes loaded with a built-in widget that allows your visitors to select the available languages.

WPML (Premium)

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WPML is one of the most popular and powerful multilingual WordPress plugins available for your WordPress website. It provides you with the ability to translate every element of your WordPress website (if supported by your WordPress theme), including all of your contents like for example taxonomies, menus, post types or else.

WPML is a premium plugin with a premium price tag. This multilingual plugin is offering three plans with prices ranging from $29 for the basic version, to $195 for the fully supported lifetime version. Which option is suitable depends on your personal needs and requirements.

WPGlobus (Free & Premium)

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WPGlobus is far more than just a plugin. It’s a collection of WordPress plugins and extensions that allows you to translate every aspect of your website. The core plugin and basic functionality is available for free which allows you to provide multilingual translations to your website visitors.

When using this multilingual WordPress plugin, there are also some premium extensions available. These extensions provide you with additional features such as WooCommerce support, URL modifying capabilities, and multiple language selection widgets to name but a few. Prices start from around $15 per extension and are charged on a yearly basis.

qTranslate X (Free)

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Next is another hugely popular WordPress multilingual plugin with over 100,000 active installations to date. qTranslate X adds a variety of multilingual elements to your WordPress dashboard that enables you to translate a whole range of website elements with ease.

qTranslate X also offers you a simple text-based method of translating your post and page content. That is making it really simple to use. The plugin may be free, but it comes equipped an array of premium-grade features, such as URL management and options, unlimited language support, custom field translations, and a custom language selector widget that is highly configurable.

MultilingualPress (Free)

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The MultilingualPress plugin allows you to quickly and very easily create multilingual networks using WordPress Multisite. This multilingual WordPress plugin itself is available to anyone free of charge. In case you would like premium support, then it’s being available for a small fee of $99 per annum.

Weglot (Free & Premium)

Image Source: Screenshot – WordPress.org

Weglot is a small but growing multilingual plugin for your WordPress website. This plugin allows you to translate any text string for a WordPress theme you’re currently using. And, it offers a simple installation and setup process. You’re able to translate your entire WordPress website via the use of their easy to understand web based user interface, which is a very neat way of doing things.

For Weglot there is free plan available that grants you permission to use this multilingual WordPress plugin on single websites with 1 translated language. Besides, there are competitively priced premium plans with increased resources available to you. Prices start from around $90 per year.

Additional tools for multilingual websites

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Knews Multilingual Newsletters (Free): Using the Knews plugin, you can send multilingual newsletters directly from your WordPress dashboard. Featuring a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to create and translate any number of newsletters ready to be sent to your subscribers.

WPML To Polylang (Free): Using the WPML To Polylang plugin, it allows you the option of migrating away from the premium-priced WPML multilingual solution. This multilingual WordPress plugin will safely import all of your WPML data for use with the popular, and free, Polylang multilingual plugin.

WPML To MultilingualPress: As the name suggests, this is a variant of the above plugin that allows users to migrate away from WPML to the MultilingualPress solution. WPML To MultilingualPress allows you to safely import all of your WPML translation data into the MultilingualPress translation system. So you can save money whilst still being multilingual.

In conclusion: Creating multilingual WordPress websites

Providing users the ability to switch between languages allows you to reach out to entirely new audiences. The more options you can provide the more corners of the globe you can reach out to. Using the above multilanguage plugins for WordPress is a good way to get going, you can begin reaching out to these corners with comparative ease, and it doesn’t have to cost the earth to do so.

Do you have any questions about running WordPress sites in various different languages? Have you used any of these WordPress plugins and would you like to provide feedback? What is your favorite multilingual plugin for WordPress? Please let us know in the comments below.

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